But I'm not done yet. Among the Sony's more unusual options is a Color Matrix menu that lets you optimize each input for high-def or standard-def signals - an option that can prove useful, for example, with DVD players that upconvert standard DVDs to a high-def signal.

Finally, there's the Motion Enhancer, with Standard, High, and Off settings. When off, the TV simply repeats each video frame in a 60-Hz HDTV signal to fill out its 120-Hz refresh rate. When switched on, the Motionflow processing detects whether a source is film- (24 fps) or video-based and interpolates the required new frames instead of just repeating existing ones.

Performance After making only basic adjustments in the TV's Custom mode with Warm 2 color temperature and Standard Color Space selected, I was very impressed with this Sony's picture. Reproduction of the deepest shadows wasn't dramatically better than what I'd seen on the company's earlier LCDs, but was still very good. Watching a Blu-ray Disc of Paul Verhoeven's recent World War II movie Black Book, I could make out the rough texture of brick buildings in the background as Dutch resistance fighters scrambled in the dark for an airdrop of supplies. And a subsequent scene in a gloomy warehouse where they unloaded the goods revealed deep shadows and a similarly impressive amount of detail in the actors' dark clothing. A minor issue with black-field uniformity was sometimes visible on very dim scenes like this one, but it was largely absent in most other movies I checked out.

True to form for a Sony, color reproduction proved excellent. In a scene where Ellis (Carice van Houten) opportunistically joins the Gestapo commander Müntze (Sebastian Koch) in his berth on a train, her red scarf and bright red lipstick - as well as the green upholstery of the seats - had a rich, robust look, while the skin tones of both actors appeared natural and balanced. And as the pair flipped through Müntze's stamp collection, the set's 1080p picture revealed fine details like printed text on the pages, and the denominations and postmarks on the stamps.

It was difficult to gauge the effect of the Sony's high refresh rate because the TV runs at 120 Hz at all times, with or without Motionflow activated. But I noticed no negative effects stemming from any 120-Hz processing. Images in fast-action sports programs appeared consistently solid and clear, with none of the smearing. I've witnessed on some other LCDs. With the Motionflow's Standard setting enabled, movie scenes gained a slight edge in picture stability, although the improvement was subtle at best. The TV's upconversion of standard-def movies left something to be desired, however: Object edges took on a jagged look in motion shots, which also tended to appear soft.

Bottom Line With the KDL-52XBR5, Sony has delivered its best-performing, most feature-laden LCD TV yet. Movie fans will enjoy this set's deep shadows, natural color, and crisp detail, while sports fans are sure to appreciate its solid, lag-free picture and wide (for an LCD, that is) viewing angle. The key downside here is its price, which exceeds that of similar high-performance LCDs and even the best 50-inch plasmas - TVs that have the edge over LCDs on black depth and shadow detail. Still, if you've got the scratch and are looking to get one of the best big-screen LCDs that money can buy, this one should do quite nicely.

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